Whether you run a small operation in a big company or you own a small business, you’re wearing many hats. So you need employees who can successfully wear multiple hats, too.

What does that entail? It entails several things.

Think: Avoid mediocrity.

To compete successfully, small businesses especially need people who are a good fit culturally. Conduct interviews that learn which of the applicants can adroitly handle challenging situations in every part of the job.

Don’t just advertise the jobs’ tasks and seek people who can claim experience in a job.

Mere satisfactory work in a job will not be acceptable if you want your company to be great.

Moreover, you must first determine the skills that will lead to high individual performance for the overall welfare of your company.

Your best employees will be to think on their feet and be passionate about succeeding. That doesn’t mean hiring mavericks because a small operation usually needs flexible people who are also comfortable in settings requiring collegial teamwork.

There’s nothing wrong workers who are independent-minded mavericks.

But frequently you’ll find they are there to learn your business and will soon leave to start their own businesses — often to compete with you.

Behavioral interviews

Past behavior in a myriad of situations is the best predictor of future performance. Ask the right behavioral questions for strong hiring results.

In your interviews, cite hypothetical events and use open-ended questions to ask applicants how they’d deal with specific work challenges.

For example, ask these types of questions:

“In this job, you’re likely to come across this situation…What would you do?”

“When you’ve worked at an organization only to encounter disagreements from your team members, how did you solve the issues?”

“When you were alone in facing a difficult challenge, what was it, and how did you handle it?”

Hiring relatives

Be cautious when interviewing relatives. Avoid the temptation to take short cuts. Ask the same types of behavioral questions.

Make certain it’s a formal, legal hiring process.

It might be a given that the persons will be hired, but be sure to assess their talents and place them in the right jobs to capitalize on their strengths.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

-Steve Jobs

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Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional.Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.